The transport and elimination of biomass such as grass clippings, leaves, twigs and other residential organic debris traditionally has been accomplished by placing the debris in plastic bags or trash cans for pickup at the curb. As residential users of trash pickup services have become more sophisticated, the use of plastic bags has raised environmental concerns about adding unneeded plastic to landfills. Back injuries occurring when residential trash cans of various weights are manually lifted have driven municipalities and trash pickup services to automated trash pickup trucks, which usually require specially constructed waste containers. Normally these waste containers are constructed from plastic material and have a hinged lid, a handle, and wheels so that a residential user can easily position the waste cart at the curb for proper engagement with automated lifting machinery on the trash truck. In some locations, residential users are required to separate their trash into paper, plastic, garbage and organic biomass.
Wet biomass is particularly difficult to handle in an automated waste collection environment because it tends to stick within the waste cart, and the moisture therein makes compression difficult and increases the overall weight per unit volume of the biomass, resulting in more trash truck trips to the incinerator, dump, or landfill.
Therefore there has been a need to provide an organic waste cart, which can interface with automated lifting equipment on trash trucks and which facilitates the drying of biomass deposited therein during the time the biomass is contained therein.